Monochrome
by 0Rust-Dust0
Summary: A 100 Theme Writing Challenge involving N and Touko. Contains a series of slightly connected One-Shots. M for some of the 'steamier' themes.
1. Theme 1 : Name

"My name is N." That singular sentence held her in place. Millions of emotions tangled in the pit of her stomach and she could not think of anything to say in reply. For someone who seemed so important and dangerous, that one letter for a name could have not been right. Or maybe it was the most fitting thing in the universe. One letter was all that was in front of the calm face and glowing eyes. An untold story that she wanted to know and treasure for the rest of her days. She tried to push back the shock so apparent on her face; the pure need for an absolution to that name, but it didn't work as well as she had hoped and color rose uncontrolled to her face as a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.

Did he know how much she was caught in his gaze, how much she craved to hear something more tangible that could explain the simplicity of his name? He probably did, and that thought made her uneasy. She could say nothing and her movement was lost in his very presence. She was trapped and as he repeated the sentence, she could feel some unknown force tie them together…something that stretched beyond the now. She wanted to reach out to him, to understand the things he told her and blend them with the things she knew, but the connection she might be sharing with him felt too thin and she feared losing that binding cord above anything else in that moment.

'_N…It truly is a beautiful name…it blots out everything else when I hear you say it…it makes me feel unworthy every time I hear myself say it…N…how could something so simple make me feel so weak…why does it endear me to you so completely?' _She frowned and found the strength to move back from his commanding presence. Something like sadness moved into his eyes, and she blinked. Confusion was now apparent in her body language, and he read that just as easily as her earlier need. She could almost feel him reaching out to her with his gaze…to understand that it didn't have to be so complicated. But it was and maybe that was really the only reason why she hoped to see him again.


	2. Theme 2 : Family

N was motionless as he scanned the tiny little town of Kanoko with no real interest. Touko clung to his arm with some sense of apprehension and his eyebrows knitted together in an open expression of distaste for the whole situation. But she had insisted, and he could not find it in himself to deny her the simpler things in life.

"Do we really have to do this?" His voice made her flinch and he smiled a little, leaning in closer to her reddening face. "There's always another day." Touko shook at the heat on her cheeks and scowled.

"Don't dodge the issue." She huffed, hoping it effectively hid the sudden flash of heat in her being. N moved back from her to reassume his sizing up of the town, which she had been born and raised in. It was quaint and obviously one of those places where everybody knew each other and were constantly there to help if the occasion called for it. Such a place made sense for someone like Touko to have come from, but it made him uneasy. He had grown up around the battered souls of Pokemon and had never really known any true feelings of compassion until he had met Touko.

Touko squeezed N's arm and felt her own doubt bubble to the surface in the face of him actually meeting her mom. Her beginning as a Trainer had been as his opposition, and something like that would probably be hard to over look. He held back a short laugh as he watched her expression and wondered again if this was a good idea.

"Are we going to stand here forever?" While N held back his laughter, he could not hold back the need to tease her and was rewarded with one of her cuter looks of anger. A flushed face with her nose crinkled in a scowl. All the while her eyes glittered with the need to say something angry, but unable to really come up with anything that might deter his behavior. It drove him to entwine his fingers with hers and invade her space; his nose mere inches from her own. Her eyes widened and he smiled at her shock.

"I-if you don't want to…" Touko found her voice growing quieter with every word as she lost herself in his eyes. He closed the distance with the softest of kisses that ended far to fast for her and blinked the haze from her eyes as she looked into his suddenly serious face.

"I've never had a family…a true family. And I find myself wanting nothing more than to be a part of yours."


	3. Theme 3 : Rival

Reshiram had chosen him and Zekrom chose her to be his opposite. Sometimes that very difference drove her to insanity as she lay near him in the night, listening to his steady breathing as he slept without worry. Despite the love and the closeness, she felt that the very Pokemon that brought them together would one day cause them to split and once again become rivals. Her hands clenched the thin fabric of the cream colored sheet while she scowled at the wall, the thoughts rushing through her brain in waves. She should have been past this ages ago, but it never seemed to truly leave her mind…it just curled up and rested, giving her a false sense of security before rearing its ugly head in the night once more.

N sensed Touko's fidgets in his sleep and groggily opened an eye to scan the troubled face of the woman he loved. A hand reached for hers and she flinched as she turned to see him looking up at her with one of the most serene expressions on his face. Immediately afterwards, the blush formed. The rush of blood to her face was the one thing she hated most in the world, but N paid no attention to it as he propped himself on one arm to get a better look at her in the moonlight coming in through the window.

"What's wrong, Touko?" N's voice was cautious and quiet. He could tell she was in one of her more troubled moods and had long since learned that loud voices made for her volatile temper to erupt. She shifted and kneaded the fabric in her hands as she looked at him with a helpless expression. She debated asking him if they would be together forever or were just doomed to play the roles of rivals until the end of their days

"This? Is this real?" Touko questioned in a voice almost too soft to really hear. N blinked up at her and moved to sit in a better position to hold her, his arms ghosting around her slender form and pulling her very gently against his chest. She froze rigid against his frame, her breath catching in her throat as though waiting for something more.

"This is real. We are real." Touko chewed on her lip, comforted by the words but still unsure enough about them to remain slightly on edge. N's fingers wormed their way into hers and gently squeezed, attempting to work the tension out of her in little circles of his fingers on the back of her hands.

"We were rivals before…What if…what if we become rivals again?" The motions of N's fingers halted as soon as her voice faded and fear shot up Touko's spine like a bolt of electricity. She suddenly felt as though she had said the wrong thing. She worried as thought raced through her head in the few frantic seconds of silence before she heard N's gentle laugh followed by a light kiss in the hollow of her shoulder.

"That is true, but it helped us grow into everything we have now." He paused and released her hands, lightly tip-toeing his fingers up her arms. Touko went rigid again for an entirely new reason and narrowed her eyes at the second rush of color to her face. "And, there are some times when being your rival is the only thing I ever want."


	4. Theme 4 : Friend

N watched the girl from the safety and shaded distance in the trees. This sneaking around made him feel like nothing more than an underhanded Grunt, but she wouldn't trust him if she saw him. Besides, he had plans to meet up with her soon in the next town. He could not rush things.

Some sort of a smile played across his face as she stopped and rested on the edge of the dirt path. She had every right not to trust him and so it did not concern him too much. After all, she was no different than any other human and he would not spare her the separation of Pokemon and people that he had dreamed of for so long. All the Pokemon that suffered in those capsules and the horrible wounds they inflicted on each other all for the glory of the human who had captured them made him sick inside.

The girl; Touko, released her Oshawott from its ball with a smile and reached into her bag as the little blue otter rubbed its face and stretched in the sunlight. The smile on N's face faded into a frown as he watched the creature stumble for a moment before turning to look at its Trainer. Pokemon should not be kept in such conditions and he didn't understand why nobody else saw this. Touko giggled as she glanced over her shoulder to witness the Oshawott's faltering first steps before she pulled the blue tin she had been searching for from her bag.

"Lunch time!" She said happily, opening the tin and placing it before Oshawott. It grinned and dove into the food, bringing out another laugh from the girl. N did not see the humor and folded his arms across his chest while the Oshawott continued to eat. Touko pulled out a candy bar and munched on it lightly before glancing back at her Pokemon, who had finished eating and was rubbing its now protruding belly in contentedness.

"Hey…I know Professor Juniper asked me if I could name you before, but I didn't…would you like your name now?" Touko had asked her Pokemon the question as though she saw it as and equal…as a friend. Oshawott jumped once in a display of excitement, saying it's name with enthusiasm and moving closer to the girl.

"That's great! Let's see…" Touko paused and studied her Pokemon with a look of deep concentration. N blinked and leaned closer to the scene before him through the trees. He doubted she could understand what the Oshawott had said, but it shouldn't have gotten excited about being named. "I know! I'll call you Azhure. A special name for my newest friend!" Touko grinned and clapped her hands together as she said the name a second time. Oshawott…Azhure, blinked up at Touko with a mystified glitter in its eyes.

"Huh, guess Oshawott hates the name." N breathed in a mocking tone more to himself than to the pair a good distance away from him.

"Oshawott! Oshawott!" N watched with a grim expression as Azhure jumped into Touko's arms with a wide smile on it's face.

'_Friends! We are friends!_' The human words that threaded into N's ears as Azhure spoke made him bristle with anger and clench the nearest branch to steady himself. Pokemon and people could not be friends. There was no way.

"You are living in a dream." N said in a dark tone as he stepped into the trees and moved closer to the next town. "Pokemon and people can not be friends. If they could, I would not have to rescue the Pokemon from people." He did not glance over his shoulder to peer at the two as he left.

'_Friends! We are friends!'_


End file.
